Whirlpool: Park not the cause

Contamination staying on property

Nov. 1, 2013

AE COM, an environmental contractor Whirlpool Corp. hired, takes soil borings from the closed Whirlpool Park near Green Springs on Monday, May 20, 2013. The company is using a geoprobe to pull the samples. / File photo

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Watchdog/enterprise

GREEN CREEK TOWNSHIP — Tests done at the closed Whirlpool Park indicate the once-popular recreation site is not the cause of a childhood cancer cluster in the Clyde area, Whirlpool Corp. said Thursday.

The results of soil, water and other tests done at Whirlpool Park show no contamination in the groundwater or Flag Run, a creek on the property, said attorney Tom Bowlus of Fremont, who represents the current property owner.

And that indicates the cancer-causing toxins, called PCBs, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency found buried in sludge on the land in 2012 are not leaving the property, said Bowlus, who is also a former Ohio EPA employee.

“The data that we found would not lead you to believe there is any risk to someone who lived around (the park),” Bowlus said. “I don’t think anyone who didn’t go on the property would be harmed by it.”

Whirlpool Corp. — whose Clyde plant makes washing machines and is Sandusky County’s largest employer — operated the park from 1953 to 2006 and sold it to current owners Grist Mill LLC, a company owned by Jonathon and Robert Abdoo, in 2008.

Whirlpool tested areas of the park last spring and summer with the oversight of U.S. EPA. Bowlus’ clients also had a firm conduct tests at the same time.

The agencies shared samples, although Bowlus said Whirlpool did not submit Bowlus’ clients’ results or comments to the U.S. EPA.

Whirlpool’s testing confirmed some of the levels of PCBs were above what the U.S. EPA considers safe and require cleanup.

The U.S. EPA agreed with Whirlpool’s findings and said the PCB contamination would need to be managed following the agency’s regulations, according to a U.S. EPA statement.

Families of children who died in the Eastern Sandusky County Cancer Cluster alleged the toxins at Whirlpool Park may have played a role in causing the cluster, or at least cancer among neighbors of the park.

The Eastern Sandusky County Cancer Cluster affected at least 35 children in a 6.7-mile radius including Clyde, Green Creek Township and much of Fremont, according to the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency. OEPA has worked with other agencies to test drinking water, air and soil, and no cause has been found.

Jeff Noel, spokesman for Whirlpool, said the Whirlpool Park test results showed there were no health concerns at the property and that nothing had been illegally dumped there. The U.S. EPA found the PCBs under the basketball court after receiving a tip Whirlpool had dumped the sludge there.

“This is a great way of closing out a chapter in the concerns the community has raised,” Noel said. “We can move forward. The entire park has been safe, always has been.”

Toxic sludge

There is, however, the sludge under the basketball court. There also were PCBs found around the area where a grist mill was located on the land in the early 1900s.

Attorney Alan Mortensen of Salt Lake City, Utah, who represents some families affected by the cancer cluster in a lawsuit against Whirlpool, said Whirlpool was disingenuous in its comments regarding the report. PCBs and other carcinogens were found on the property, and PCBs were found in an area where dumping had been reported, he said.

“I do not think Whirlpool can walk away from this study thinking Whirlpool Park has nothing to do with the cancer cluster,” Mortensen said. “If the park is as safe as they say, why is remediation needed?”

Noel said the levels of PCBs were consistent with fill material that would have been used when major improvements were made at the park.

“That was common practice for fill material in the 1950s and ’60s that was not tested,” Noel said.

He said he did not know who put the fill material at the basketball court and said he did not want to speculate about it.

Next steps

Whirlpool plans to work with the Abdoos to remove the contamination from the property, Noel said. Bowlus, who said Whirlpool also indicated to him it would remove the contamination, said he was pleased with the company’s cooperation.

He was, however, frustrated that Whirlpool submitted the testing report to the U.S. EPA without telling him or his clients and allowing them to comment and use their data in the report.

“We were told many times that we would have an opportunity to comment on the report before it was sent to U.S. EPA,” he said.

Noel did not comment on the property owners’ test results.

Bowlus said his clients wanted to see more testing done in the grist mill area and sediment in the east pond, where PCBs were found. They also wanted an ecological risk assessment completed.

Jonathon Abdoo bought the property with plans to build a home there, and he would like the land cleaned up so he can still do that, Bowlus said.

Lawsuits pending

Meanwhile, two lawsuits are pending against Whirlpool Corp. that allege the toxins there caused cases of cancer.

The lawsuit Mortensen is handling alleges the park caused cancer among neighbors of the park and that Whirlpool’s Clyde plant released a chemical called benzaldehyde that also is responsible for cases of cancer in Clyde.

Benzaldehyde is a liquid that evaporates when exposed to air and is used as a food flavoring, in cosmetics and as a solvent. Mortensen alleges benzaldehyde is a carcinogen and was found in attics of homes where some children who had cancer lived.

Whirlpool does not use benzaldehyde in its core processes and is still checking with its supply chain to see if the chemical was used there, Noel said. The chemical is regarded as safe, he said.

The second lawsuit alleges the contamination at the park caused the cancer cluster.